Maniac Magee Abandonment Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"More than anything, Maniac wanted to hug Amanda and tell her it was okay. He wanted to go inside, be with his family, in his house, his room, behind his window. But that wasn't the right thing. The right thing was to make sure the Beales didn't get hurt anymore. He couldn't keep letting them pay such a price for him." (21.8)

Maniac sees abandonment as a legit choice, as a way to fix a problem, make things better. Is this just Maniac's way of letting those who have abandoned him off the hook? Or does he kind of have a point?

Quote #6

"The story he told now was not about baseball. It was about parents who were drunk a lot and always leaving him on his own; about being put in classes where they just cut paper and played games all day; about a teacher who whispered to a principal, just outside the classroom door, 'This bunch will never learn to read a stop sign.' Right then and there, as if to make the teacher right, he stopped trying." (27.1)

Maybe this is why Grayson and Maniac are able to stick together: both have been abandoned in different ways. Listen up, Maniac: unless you want to end up like Grayson, you'd better find a home, stat.